Paramount Animation
Paramount Animation is the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures. The division was founded on July 6, 2011 in response to the success of Rango and DreamWorks Animation's contract with Paramount expiring in 2012. Its first animated film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water was released on February 6, 2015, and its latest release, Wonder Park, was released on March 15, 2019. Background After the closure of the New York-based Paramount Cartoon Studios (it was formerly named Famous Studios until 1956) in 1967, Paramount released eight animated features between 1972 and 1992, all of which were produced by outside studios. These features included: Charlotte's Web, Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, Alice in a New Wonderland , Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!), Heidi's Song, Cool World, and Bébé's Kids (along with the short film The Itsy Bitsy Spider). In 1990, Paramount Communications, the then parent company of Paramount Pictures, established their own animation studio in Glendale, California, named Paramount Animation Studios, which would create original films and adaptations to compete with studios such as Walt Disney Feature Animation. However after the poor box-office performance of some of its later films, the studio was promptly shut down to focus on releasing animated films from Nickelodeon Movies. After Viacom's purchase of Paramount Pictures in 1994, the studio started releasing animated films that were based on Viacom's Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central brands from 1996 to 2006, many of which were box office successes. The films included: Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, The Rugrats Movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Rugrats Go Wild, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and Barnyard. Starting in 2006 with Over the Hedge and Flushed Away, Paramount Pictures became the primary distributor of animated features produced by DreamWorks Animation, many of which, such as Over The Hedge, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon, were notable critical and financial successes. In July 2011, in the wake of critical and box office success of their animated feature, Rango and the departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rise of the Guardians in 2012, Paramount announced the formation of a new division, devoted to the creation of animated productions. It marks Paramount's return to having its own animated division for the first time since the shut down of Paramount Cartoon Studios. History Brad Grey era (2011–2017) In October 2011, Paramount named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, president of Paramount Animation. In February 2012, Stainton resigned for personal reasons, with Paramount Film Group's president, Adam Goodman, stepping in to directly oversee the studio. It was also announced that The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, a standalone sequel to 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and based upon the popular Nickelodeon TV show, SpongeBob SquarePants, is the studio's first film and would be released in 2014. In August 2012, in the same month that DreamWorks Animation confirmed that it will be working with 20th Century Fox as distributor beginning in 2013, Variety reported that Paramount Animation was in the process of starting development of several animated films with budgets of around US$100 million. On July 31, 2013, Paramount Animation announced that they were developing a new live-action/animated franchise in the vein of the Transformers series, which was titled Monster Trucks. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were set to write the film's script, Chris Wedge (director of 2002's Ice Age) was set to direct the film, and Mary Parent was set to produce the film, with an initial release date set for May 29, 2015. The studio's first film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water on February 6, 2015 to positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest grossing animated film of 2015. That same month, Paramount fired Adam Goodman due to the studio's thin film slate and Goodman greenlighting box office bombs at the studio. Paramount announced another SpongeBob film later that year. In the summer of 2015, Paramount Pictures participated in a bidding war against Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Animation for the rights to produce The Emoji Movie, based on a script by Tony Leondis and Eric Siegel. Sony won the bidding war in July and released the film in 2017. The studio's head Bob Bacon also left Paramount Animation that summer. In June 2015, it was revealed that Spain's Ilion Animation Studios (the studio behind 2009's Planet 51) won a bidding war against other animation studios to produce a 3D animated tentpole film for Paramount Animation, which was already in production since 2014. In November 2015, Paramount Animation officially announced the project as Amusement Park, (later renamed Wonder Park) with former Pixar animator Dylan Brown helming. The studio also announced Monster Trucks, The Little Prince, Sherlock Gnomes, and the third SpongeBob film. On May 2016, Paramount Pictures announced that they had signed a deal with UK-based Locksmith Animation to co-develop and co-produce three original animated projects to be released under the Paramount Animation label (with animation produced by DNEG). The studio's second film, Monster Trucks was released to mixed reviews and became a box failure, grossing $64.5 million on a $125 million budget and losing the studio $120 million. On March 2017, Skydance Media formed a multi-year partnership with Ilion Animation Studios and in July, announced its first two animated feature films — Luck and Split — which would be distributed by Paramount Pictures as part of their deal with Skydance. On October 10, 2017, Bill Damaschke was hired to head the division as president of animation and family entertainment. Jim Gianopulos era (2017–present) In April 2017, Paramount ended its deal with Locksmith Animation when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos, who decided that their projects did not fit in with Paramount’s other upcoming releases. Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox four months later. In July 2017, Paramount Pictures named former DreamWorks Animation co-president Mireille Soria as the president of the studio. The studio released its third film, Sherlock Gnomes on March 23, 2018 and became a critical and financial disappointment, grossing $90.3 million on a $59 million budget. In April 2018, Paramount Pictures named former Blue Sky Studios and Nickelodeon Movies producer Ramsey Naito as the executive vice president of the studio. The studio's next film, Wonder Park was released on March 15, 2019. It received mixed reviews and it became a box office flop, grossing only $119.6 million worldwide on a budget of less than $100 million. In September 2019, Paramount Animation introduced its new logo and mascot, a tween girl named Star Skipper. Process Similar to Warner Animation Group and Sony Pictures Animation, the studio outsources their films to different animation services and visual effects companies, including Rough Draft Studios (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water), Moving Picture Company (Monster Trucks), Mikros Image (Sherlock Gnomes and The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge), Allspark Animation (Untitled Hanazuki: Full of Treasures film), Ilion Animation Studios (Wonder Park and Luck), Nelvana (A Little Girl's Story), and Reel FX Creative Studios (Rumble and Sherlock Gnomes). Rumble, A Little Girl's Story and Luck are created outside of Paramount Animation, although they will be released under the studio's label. Unlike other animation studios, Paramount Animation doesn't have an in-house animation style. According to Mireille Soria, each film will have their own unique style created by the filmmakers, which would be helped by outsourcing animation to different vendors. Filmography Feature films Released films Upcoming films Films in development : Combines live-action with animation. : Not produced, but released by Paramount Animation under its label. : An adult animated production. Television series Accolades Annie Awards See also * List of Paramount Pictures theatrical animated features Category:Companies Category:Paramount Animation Category:Paramount Pictures Category:Paramount Category:Viacom Category:Animation studios